Article December 29, 2014 Issue

Horsemanship and healing

Julia Stevermer

I find it amazing how God’s love is always present, always surrounding and protecting us. This summer, I went to a camp for Christian Scientists, where I got to ride a horse named Remington. He was a sweetheart on rides—that is, unless we were going back home to the corral.

The first time Remington acted up was when we were exiting an arena and heading back. He started crow-hopping and lunging, trying to run home. I pulled on the reins, but it was no use. He repeatedly tried to bolt, until at last he stopped when we hit the trail.

After that, I was extremely nervous on him when headed home. I would always tense up, lean forward, and shorten the reins. That’s when negative thoughts would come to me, like, “He’s going to take off again,” or, “He’s such a bad horse!” or even, “Just get off him and quit the horsemanship program.” Because I was not ready to fall off, hate my horse, or quit horsemanship, I had to resolve these conflicts.